Royal Mail Strikes and Service Of Documents

Royal Mail strike dates were 3 days in October, 4 days in November and a further 6 days set for December.

Mail strikes have an impact on the service of legal documents. There are numerous alternatives to consider as it depends on what document is being served and the case law applicable.

Service is defined as “Steps required by rules of court to bring documents used in court proceedings to a person’s attention” which of course may include service by email.

Rules set up when Covid was rife- adopted a common sense approach or sometimes just an understanding that a company may not be working from their premises so could the server try an email or call instead to prompt a response. This was felt to be reasonable in terms of deadlines and we may see the Courts preparing to adopt a pragmatic approach with these strikes in mind. Of course, we need to consider whether or not we have an email address for the Defendant and keep this in mind when providing anticipated response times to our clients. In the hope that a more flexible approach to service will encourage more fruitful results.

What would the position be in relation to the service of documents (whether under leases or the Civil Procedure Rules) if the postal service is unavailable

https://uk.practicallaw.thomsonreuters.com/a-127-5856?transitionType=Default&contextData=(sc.Default)